First Adapt, Then Act! (A Booklet to Promote Safer Food in Diverse Settings)

The information provided by the food safety (FOS) messages in the WHO Five Keys to Food Safety Foster needs to be disseminated by adapting the messages to specific target populations. For this purpose, WHO issued the brochure, “Bringing Food Safety Home”, for use globally. Inspired by this initiative, WHO’s Regional Office for Siuth East Asia has carried forward this effort.

The first step in this direction has been the translation of the original English version into 11 of the main languages spoken in South Asia. The translations were done by national food safety experts from the concerned countries.

“First Adopt, Then Act!” is the second step. The booklet gives examples of how the “Five Keys” can be further communicated through locally-adapted awareness materials.

The explanations, comments and suggestions given below are not exhaustive but only illuminate some of the contextual and cultural issues that would need to be considered while preparing FOS promotional materials. The contents in this document can be useful for those engaged in promoting safer food to audiences such as small-and medium-scale food and restaurant business owners, street food vendors, food/ sanitary inspectors, hospitality business students, consumer organizations, school teachers and secondary school students.

Contents:

Background

Five keys to safer food

Food Safety Basics

Key One: Keep Clean

Key Two: Separate raw and cooked

Key Three: Cook Thoroughly

Key Four: Keep Food at safe temperatures

Key Five: Use Safe water and raw materials

Examples of Demonstrations for schoolchildren (1) Handwashing: “Hot water, soap and hands”

Examples of Demonstrations for schoolchildren (2) Cross-Contamination

Glossary